I'm finally back.

Sep. 22nd, 2025 10:54 pm
pattrose: SallyMN (Default)
[personal profile] pattrose
Wow, I'm back from Greece. I don't think I'm meant to be a world traveler. It was a 15-hour trip to Greece and back, and I still had to drive two hours to get back to Tucson, AZ. We loved Greece, but I learned an essential thing. When you're on oxygen, it becomes borderline frightening, in need of air. I had six batteries for my machine, and they are supposed to last four or more hours each. It should have been more than enough. I ran out there and back. Not something I would suggest anyone do. It was a nightmare. I'll never fly again. Too scary for me. And I also learned that most of Greece is at an incline. Something else, my lungs didn't appreciate.

I didn't get to go on the excursions with my hubby and daughter because they told us I wouldn't do well. We decided to take a chance, and it didn't end well at all. So, I only did an excursion in Turkey and a small one in Crete, Greece. I found things to do on the ship, but I found myself somewhat depressed at fucking up their trip. It was a costly trip to end up on the ship for the most part.

I now know that I will only travel by car from now on.

And would you like to know what happened on the way back, in a packed 450-person flight? We got Covid. We are now sicker than a dog. Boy oh boy, the fun keeps rolling in.

Okay, I'm done whining now. I'll post some pictures when I finally go through all of them. Hugs, Patt.

The Conjuring 4, Him, The Long Walk

Sep. 22nd, 2025 10:22 pm
snickfic: Buffy looking over her shoulder (Default)
[personal profile] snickfic
The Conjuring 4: Last Rites (2025). Man, this was terrible. Way too long, took forever to get the Warrens to the actual case, the case family got dropped for the entire middle of the movie, unbearably saccharine epilogue. The whole plot turns on the Warrens' daughter Judy having almost died as a baby, being gifted with Lorraine's clairvoyance, and being chased down by the demon(s?) who had her marked for death. However, somehow the characters don't figure that last part out until the climax even though it's blatantly obvious ten minutes in, so the emotional arc of Lorraine mentoring Judy into embracing her gift rather than telling her to hide from it is crammed into like a minute and a half.

Oh and Ed has heart trouble again, which means nothing. He's fine at the end. The bit in the middle where the doctor tells him he can't afford another heart attack is just a red herring.

People said this was something of a return to form after The Conjuring 3, but despite that one's glaring holes, at least it wasn't the draggy self-indulgent mess this one was.

--

Him (2025). A promising college quarterback is invited to train with the greatest professional quarterback of all time (Marlon Wayans) and gets more than he bargained for. This is football as a cult/football as folk horror. It is not, despite the impression I got from the trailer, about a kid making a deal with the devil at the beginning and then having it unravel on him; it took me a solid hour to accept that it had no intention of being that specific movie.

This movie has a lot of really nice shots, and both Wayans and the lead Tyriq Weathers are both great. I'm always here for folk horror and weird ritual shit, which this has elements of. I enjoyed the surreality as Cade questions how much of what he sees is even actually happening. The ending is very fun and my favorite part of the movie, even if the movie gets a bit too much into explaining itself.

That said, I wasn't sure what all the movie was trying to do. Thematically, I don't feel like the movie added much more than what was in the 90-second trailer. I also, as always, had several worldbuilding questions. (My preferred headcanon is that spoilers ))

--

The Long Walk (2025). In an ambiguously 50s-ish alternate America, fifty young men volunteer to go on the annual death march until the last one walking wins.

This is an adaptation of my favorite Stephen King book of all time. I have a bunch of thoughts on it, but tbh they're kind of all praising with faint damns, because they're essentially quibbles. Overall, this captures the essential spirit and theme of the book so well that quibbles are all I have. In fact, in that regard it's probably one of the closest adaptations of a King novel ever, because so many of them go sooooo far off the rails. The emphasis on the relationships between the walkers, the dreary vibe, the body horror, the horrific brutal deaths: it's all here. The movie changes the ending, in keeping with what I felt was a bit of Hollywood dramatization throughout, but the changes still keep to the spirit of the book's ending, I feel.

I keep thinking I'd like to go see it again before it's out of the theater. We'll see if I manage it. In the meantime, I have had a great time watching interviews with the cast and discussions of how it was made. This is one of those movies where the story of the production is as good as or better than the movie itself. Garrett Wareing, who plays Stebbins, says the cast walked 261 miles in the process of making it. 261 miles!!! He talks about how literally the entire production was mobile: makeup, the food, everything. It just rolled along with the actors. It's also kind of amazing to think about these actors having to do basically ALL their acting while moving. I feel like mostly in movies people aren't having big serious conversations and walking around at the same time. And they filmed the movie chronologically, which IMO really makes sense since they were continuously changing locations and let the actors organically develop their characters and chemistry.

The director is Francis Lawrence, who got started directing Constantine (2005) and has since directed every Hunger Games film except the first one, so he is a big budget guy. This is the lowest-budget movie he's ever directed ($20M). Several people involved have commented it was a passion project for him, and it really shows. His love for the novel might also explain how he ended up directing so many movies for Death Games: The Franchise??

This series of interviews is my favorite I've seen so far, but this interview by the Dead Meat folks has fun stuff too, especially in the second half when everyone has found their footing.

I think this movie is the one I've had the most fun thinking about in a long time.

books I have read

Sep. 21st, 2025 12:25 pm
snickfic: Sam Dean (SD)
[personal profile] snickfic
I have read some books which I had few thoughts or feelings about.

Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato. A varied cast of characters all end up at a haunted castle which won't let them escape. This is dark fantasy with strong but not specifically identifiable fairy tale elements. First person POV with multiple POVs is a struggle, especially when everyone's narrative voice sounds the same. I was disappointed that the naive rich girl whose heart gets broken and then who gets cruelly married off didn't get written with more nuance. IDK. It was fine, I guess.

--

The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister. A family of siblings in rural Virginia with an ancestral charge to protect a nearby bog has to figure out what to do when the bog, for the first time in family memory, does not produce a woman to marry the eldest son.

I read this because I am always on the lookout for stories about people who are raised or sucked into very skewed perspectives, especially when those perspectives are supported by reality - for example, their very real bog-mother here. And this definitely delivered! That said, this feels more like a work of gothic fiction than anything else. Their terrible disintegrating family home just gets worse as the story goes on, and the ending in particular reminds me very strongly of

spoilers
We Have Always Lived in the Castle.


That said, I am not sure what I am meant to take away for this one. There are definitely themes of ecology and environmentalism, but also this is a family of very real characters with all their various squabbles and relationships. To be honest, when the book was over I was mostly sad about the ending for the two siblings who reminded me so strongly of the spoiler above.

An odd duck.

--

The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy. The third novella in the Danielle Cain series, in which Danielle and her group of fellow anarchists tell ghost stories around a campfire. I always enjoy Killjoy's vibe, even when it feels like there's not a ton of substance, like here. And I guess others feel the same, because the kickstarter to fund this blew way past all its main goals. Hopefully that means we'll get more Danielle Cain books in the future.
jedibuttercup: (jason statham)
[personal profile] jedibuttercup
M; A Working Man (2025); Levon Cade/Gunny Lefferty. 1900w, for [community profile] bethefirst.

"I was gonna give you another year or so to process, if you were still keeping your distance," Gunny said, "but you sound like a man in need of a reminder that he's not alone. So get your ass on over here."

Visualising Better Days )

(x-posted @ AO3)
jedibuttercup: Ana de Armas as Marta Cabrera (knives out)
[personal profile] jedibuttercup
Title: Serendipity Comes From Defying Expectations
Author: [personal profile] jedibuttercup
Fandom: Knives Out (2019)
Rating: T/PG-13; Marta/Ransom
Warnings/Notes: For the 2025 [community profile] iddyiddybangbang. A Harlan-Lives AU for Iddy Iddy Bang Bang 2025: an exercise in scheming seen through a limited POV, and warping someone else's path simply by being who you are. :)

Summary: Ransom was the only one of the Thrombeys who hadn't been haunting the patriarch's doorstep with demands and pleas ever since the party. Maybe there was a little more to him than the façade of a spoiled rich kid who valued nothing and no one besides himself. 10,500 words

Serendipity Comes From Defying Expectations ) (or read at AO3)

Our Author Appearance Necessity List

Sep. 18th, 2025 01:27 pm
ozma914: Haunted Noble County Indiana (Default)
[personal profile] ozma914

 It's been a few years since Emily and I did an author appearance, so I dug up this blog from back then just to remind myself. We're going to be at Albion's Fall Celebration this Saturday, on the Courthouse Square. Never mind the weather--we'll figure it out.

 


 

I'm sure you all added our upcoming author appearances to your calendars and phones, and possibly had the dates tattooed backward to your foreheads. I mean, all those vendors together--it'll be Indiana's social event of the decade. (Although I'm told the world's biggest greased pig chase and cornhole contest will be next year in Muncie, so we might be in second place.)

If I did post a link to the 10 am - 2 pm event, which includes a classic car cruise-in, food, and almost two dozen vendors, I'd put it here:

https://www.albionstarteam.org/fall-celebration

 But I won't. It's our first author appearance since 2022--even before COVID we didn't do them often, so I started a list of what we needed to bring. Then I realized, surely I already made a list? I do that. I went back and sure enough, there it was.

So, what does every good author, and most of the bad ones, need to bring?

1. Books. This is kinda important. If you do a book signing, you should have something to sign.

2. Change. When one goes somewhere to sell books, one must assume some books will be sold. Thus: change for those high rollers who walk around with hundred dollar bills. (I don't know any of them, either.)

3. A calculator or, these days, a calculator app. After all, the whole reason I became a writer is because I can't do math in my head.

4. Tylenol. You'd be surprised. No, probably you wouldn't.

5. A camera. My wife took a photo of me signing a book for an Indiana State Senator who, apparently not having read my columns about politicians, was very nice. You never know what you might get a picture of when you're out in the public.

6. Paper and pens. The pens are to, duh, sign books. The paper is because, even though We'll have phones with us, I don't trust technology.

7. A tarp and an umbrella, if the venue is outside. There's a reason why books aren't usually sold outdoors, but I laugh in the face of danger. Well, I cringe, which looks a little like laughing, if you squint. (I just looked at the forecast, and I'm scared.)

8. Business cards. Emily designed me my very own business card! Sometimes, when it's slow at events, I sneak around the crowds and pull the opposite of pick pocketing, leaving my calling card behind. Come on, you knew that was me.

9. A table and chairs. The basics, right? We bought a folding chair that's so comfortable I'm thinking of throwing away our couch. I can't find it.

10. Liquid refreshments. I'm thinking water. Hey, I don't need any help from alcohol to look foolish.

11. Displays and signs. To display stuff ... like signs.

12. Scotch Tape. It's the author's duct tape.



A lot of that stuff will fit nicely into the totes we bought for the purpose, although, man, books can get heavy when you're carrying them a long way. The good news is, we have actual copies of all our books for the first time, now that Storm Squalls is in print. How about you other authors? What's on your "to-bring" list? And what would you potential readers like to see an author supplied with?




Remember, every time you miss an author event, Edgar Allan Poe rolls over in his grave. You don't want to wake that guy up.



(But if you can't make it, find our books at:)

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf


Remember: Some authors only appear on the full moon, so be nice to them.





hola méxico

Sep. 17th, 2025 10:26 pm
snickfic: (Oasis walkon)
[personal profile] snickfic
Today I need to share with you the two best bits from the Mexico gigs, both on the second night, Sept 13.

ITEM ONE:
Here is a video of Noel directing the crowd to do the poznan, which is the Manchester City football club's special celebration dance. Liam's been having the crowd do it the whole tour, but this time he talked Noel into doing the explanation for the first time.

So much to observe here:
- Liam: "I've seen you do it," probably referring to this memorable occasion when Noel definitely did not do it.

- Noel greeting them in Spanish.

- Noel: "Not asking you to do the okey-cokey." 😅

- Noel explaining the correct process very clearly and efficiently, which is not something one would ever say about Liam's approach.

- But best of all: Noel saying "The big man doesn't ask for much," and then pausing to laugh at the utter and profound absurdity of this remark.

ITEM TWO
And here is Noel miming that Liam should throw his sombrero to the crowd (having already thrown his maracas and tambourine), and Liam handing it to him so HE can throw it. This is also the first time Noel's thrown anything on the tour AFAIK.

They're just having so much fun together and being so charming about it. Incredible. Not in our WILDEST DREAMS did any of us in the fandom dream anything like this was possible.

fandom things

Sep. 15th, 2025 10:05 pm
snickfic: (Oasis walkon)
[personal profile] snickfic
- Yuletide nominations are upon us!! I don't know how this happened so fast, but here we are.

- AO3 is canonizing more freeform tags! Very, very slowly! This latest update includes cosmic horror and clit play, among others.

- Regal is doing a giant horror October release thing, with a classic horror movie every day of the movement (for variable definitions of classic). Because Regal's marketing is absolute pants, I couldn't find an official announcement of this anywhere, but here's a comprehensive listing on Reddit.

- I started posting my Oasis WIP, one vignette a day, ranging from less than 300 words (today) to probably around 3k (the sex scene if I can ever finish it!!). It is here if you are inclined to read along. I don't think I've ever done daily fic posting in all my years of fandom, and I'm excited about it. And the response so far has been really nice. :)

- And as of Saturday I broke 70k for the year!!!

- Speaking of Oasis... just look at these bozos. Look how happy they are. Can you believe. 😭😭😭

Please note Liam has balanced his maracas AND his tambourine on his sombrero. A shelf hat, exactly what he has always wanted.
jedibuttercup: (expendables)
[personal profile] jedibuttercup
M; Expendables 4; Lee Christmas/Barney Ross, 4700 words. Soul bond AU.

After all, there was nowhere Barney Ross could go that Lee Christmas couldn't follow. Not anymore.

The Question Ain't If But When

(For [archiveofourown.org profile] flawsinthevoodoo in [community profile] raremaleslashex)

Avoiding the Kick Zone

Sep. 12th, 2025 08:40 pm
ozma914: (Dorothy and the Wizard)
[personal profile] ozma914

Emily works at a saddle barn, guiding trails at Pokagon State Park here in Indiana. Emily is, shall we say, height challenged. I don't believe it's PC to say  "short" anymore. But one thing I've learned from watching her work is that she knows how to get much bigger animals to do what she wants.

She knows how to get me to do what she wants too, but at least I don't have to wear a bridal. Well, except that one time.

I've learned a lot about horses from talking to her and watching her work. Horses are even a large part of my mystery/humor/supernatural novel We Love Trouble, which I hope you all get to read someday. She'll have to be listed in the book as "technical consultant".

 

 
Did you stick your tongue out at me, young man? Um, young horse?

 

 

That's why I know about the Kick Zone.

If you walk behind a horse, you either want to be right behind it, or drop back about a mile and a half. If you're close, but far enough away that the horse can wind up for a kick, you might soon find yourself landing in a tree.

You don't want to be in the Kick Zone.

Earlier this year I drove to Pokagon to pick up Emily. It gave me a chance to introduce myself to the new mule, who Emily described as "rather large". The Saddle barn had two mules. Freddy, who had his own Facebook and Instagram accounts before he passed, was normal sized. for a mule. The other one I hadn't seen yet, but as I walked up to her I imagined what Freddy said at first sight:

"It's a giant! Mulezilla!"

 

 

 
That's Molly with Emily, and no, this is not a trick of perspective.
 

 

 

Molly is the tallest equine animal in the Midwest. Horses and mules are usually measured by hands, but Molly is eight legs tall. Petting her was like trying to put out a forest fire: It's hard to tell where to start. It takes Emily five steps to get into her saddle, with the first step involving the word "trampoline" and the last step being to put on a high-altitude oxygen mask.

I'm just sayin', big mule.

After we got to know each other, Emily untied Molly and led her toward the barn, past me, which is okay because I'm to her side as she goes by. But that was when something spooked her. The mule, I mean, not Emily. The animals know better than to pull away from Emily, but the plastic bag, or crunched leaf, or perceived insult made her swing her back side around until it was aimed at me. The mule, not Emily.

I was in the Kick Zone.

There's only one thing to do: Flee. I backpedaled, reaching approximately warp 9 in half a second. Even the USS Enterprise can't reach that speed by going backward, but I did. Of course, the Enterprise might accidentally back into the Klingons, and I'd hate to fill out that road rage report.

Directly behind me was the end of the hitching line. It was a plastic pipe, maybe four inches in diameter, with the end aimed right at the small of my back like a police battering ram. Only less fun.

 

 
Molly with the offending railing end.

 

I did not scream when I backed into it at Warp 9, which, as you'll remember, is very fast. I did say something, which I'll just code as "Klingon! Oh, Klingon!"

I said "Klingon" several times.

The moral of this story is "situational awareness". It's also that you should keep ibuprofen, ice, and that green stuff from the chiropractor close by at all times. The chiropractor should also be close by.

Molly never kicked. I suppose her mind was on whatever spooked her: a candy wrapper, a passing mosquito, maybe the realization that Lost will never make sense. The hitching post just laughed off the incident. I drove us home with no problems, although it took several people to pry me out of the car and carry me to the couch. I'm now working on the outline of a novel about evil hitching posts that attack the unwary, and I'm calling it "Post Ghosts". M. Night Shymalan already has the movie rights.



 

   Yes, horses do appear in some of my books, specifically the Storm Chaser series. Find them all here:

 

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

 

Remember: Just thinking about horses costs money for a horse lover, so help us with sales and reviews!

 


ozma914: Haunted Noble County Indiana (Default)
[personal profile] ozma914

I can type again! .... some.

  

A few author appearances are coming up:

 

On September 20 we'll be at Albion's Fall Celebration, which is on a Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lots of vendors, plus a car show, all on the Noble County Courthouse Square in Albion. We plan to have all of our books available, and fingers crossed for good weather. Honestly, outdoor appearances make me very nervous, what with rain and all the paper.

https://www.albionstarteam.org/fall-celebration 

 


 On September 28th Emily and I are going to be guesting on the Easily Distracted by Cemeteries podcast, in a discussion I suspect will involve ... cemeteries. They're based not far from Diamond Lake, which, along with its accompanying hill, has a rich tradition of the supernatural.

https://rss.com/podcasts/easilydistractedbycemeteries/ 

"Join us as we discuss cemeteries, ghosts, and the antics of those visiting cemeteries with many distractions and laughs along the way."

 We're starting at 2 p.m., but I assume this isn't live. I'll let you know when I have a broadcast time.

 

On October 30, from 6-7:30 p.m., we'll be at the Assembly Room of the Community Learning Center in Kendallville. I'll be giving a talk, then hosting a Q&A. But on the brighter side, I'm told there'll be drinks (non-alcoholic) and snacks. I'm reasonably certain I'll be able to string two words together, maybe three.

https://thecommunitylearningcenter.org/ 

 

This will be a ticketed event, which wasn't my idea, and please show up! It's to cover the CLC expenses, and it's a pretty great organization. The Community Learning Center is at 401 E. Diamond Street, in the old Kendallville High School, which was more recently the old Kendallville Middle School.

 






Hope to see everyone there, which would be quite a crowd. But if you can't make it ours books are all available online, pending operations by Skynet:

 

 

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

 
Remember: Fresh air never hurt anyone. I mean, outside of blizzards. And heat waves. And ... never mind.